We asked a few political types in conservative Lea County after Romney appeared before a crowd, talking energy and making his case for the White House:

Romney will have an uphill struggle in New Mexico since Democrats have a 48-32 lead on Republicans in registered voters.

National election outfits have almost uniformly placed New Mexico into the “leans Obama” category.

Update: As it so happens, Rasmussen Reports just came out with a poll of New Mexico showing Obama up by a solid 14 points — 52-38 with 9 points for “some other candidate,” which one would presume would make up a lot of Gary Johnson supporters.

Rasmussen also has Democrat Martin Heinrich up by 7 — 48-41 — on Heather Wilson in their bitter race for the US Senate, with 7 percent undecided.

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JoeThePimpernel

“Romney will have an uphill struggle in New Mexico since Democrats have a 48-32 lead on Republicans in registered voters.”

But a lot of those dead Democrat voters won’t be able to produce photo ID, unlike last time.

Charles

Since statehood, NM has correctly picked the ultimate presidential winner in every election but for 1976 and 2000 (Gore wins popular vote but loses electoral college). If NM goes for Obama but the country elects Romney, it may indicate that NM has lost its bellwether status.